Thursday, 31 January 2013

Friday, 11 January 2013

From a very early age, Elizabeth has enjoyed role playing. I can remember her filling up an imaginary cup from the imaginary tap and feeding her teddy when she was only 13 months old.
Now, a year later, she will sit and have tea parties with her teddies, look after her Baby like I do with Toby and pretend that her snacks are various animals and objects while the dining table is their play ground.

So it shouldn't surprise me that today, I was the baby. I was told that I needed to sleep and was taken over to the sofa. After being ordered to lie down and close my eyes, I was shhh'd and had my back rubbed and patted. Elizabeth then decided that I needed a pillow. This included some gentle manipulation of my head so I was laying in exactly the right place. E then attempted to sing but as she's not quite able to do that very well yet, I was told that I had to sing myself. Charming! E then fussed with her little baby blanket, making sure I was tucked in and then continued to pat me. She lovingly sat on the edge of my 'bed' (the sofa) while I 'slept'.

Tuesday, 1 January 2013

2012 was another big year for us. I'd like to share a quick run-down with you, if for no other reason than so I can remember all the wonderful things that happened in years to come.

The first piece of happy news happened not long into the New Year. We found out that we were expecting our second child! A slightly surprising yet very happy start to 2012.

At the end of March, I had the honour of being a bridesmaid to one of my best and oldest friends. C looked amazing and I know that her and D will be very happy together.

The day after that wedding, we picked up our new dog, Frankie. We've had a lot of ups and downs with him but he is a much loved part of our family and we're so very pleased that we have him.

We had a lovely trip to Northern Ireland with our good friends, who we met through the NCT antenatal group we attended when I was expecting E. The weather was fantastic and we loved it.

Shortly after visiting NI, we took a trip to Sweden and Denmark to spend time with family before the baby arrived.

Our whole family loved watching the London Olympics and it was great to see E so enthusiastic about something she'd never seen before.

After E became almost scared of swimming, we decided to take a break
from lessons and have fun with her at a local pool instead. We went
almost every weekend from April to September and it was hard work for
Frans to get E to want to go. It paid off though and she started to enjoy it again and now she gets excited when you just mention the word!

In September, we had the birth of our beautiful Tobias.

E loves her baby brother and is (mostly) a wonderful sister. He clearly already loves her to pieces. She has adapted incredibly well to the new arrival and we're very proud of her.

October was a big month as Frans turned 40! We had a party in our garden (I still can't believe the HUGE marquee actually fit!) and enjoyed celebrating with our closest family and friends. Some family members came over from Denmark and it was lovely to spend so much time with them.

We then found out that C and D (who got married back in March) are expecting their first baby! A little girlfriend for T maybe...?

Some other close friends are also expecting and we couldn't be more excited for them. Shh, don't tell anyone yet though!

At 10 weeks old, T started his swimming lessons and isn't bothered at all. We hope he loved the water as much as his sister does.

Watching E in her first nativity was very special. She played an elf (and didn't really do much) but she looked adorable.

The week before Christmas saw E get the chickenpox. She managed to avoid it three times over the course of the year. Thankfully she wasn't too badly affected by it and T managed to escape it too.

E has hit so many milestones this year that we can't count them all. It feels like she does something amazing and new every week but I guess the 'big hits' are her moving into her big girl bed, starting to use a potty (with potty training not being too far away now), counting up to six items on her own (but being able to recite numbers up to twelve) and getting herself dressed without needing any help from me. She can even do her own socks and shoes! She is a wonderful little girl and although trying at times, I love her dearly and look forward to seeing her grow even more in 2013.